Rough Trade NYC celebrated Record Store Day 2015 will an all-day party featuring live performances and signings. Among the highlights: the first Dresden Dolls show in NYC in five years; Sondre Lerche cut a record live to 78RPM lacquer; and Kim Gordon signed copies of her memoir, Girl in a Band. Buzzcocks, who played two NYC-area shows that week, stopped by to sign stuff too, plus there were live sets from Howlin' Rain, Ava Luna, Lee Bains III, Saun & Starr and Lord Raja. Pictures from Rough Trade's RSD15 events are in this post.

You could just walk into Rough Trade if you weren't shopping for Record Store Day exclusive releases. For those who were, there was a long line that, right before they opened on Saturday, stretched down and around Kent Ave up to N. 8th St. Apparently people were in line just after midnight on Friday. Madness!

Dresden Dolls' set was webcast live for supporters of Amanda's Patreon (an archived stream will be made available to everyone soon). More pics from Record Store Day at Rough Trade, below...

The Dresden Dolls' albums Yes, Virginia (2006) and No, Virginia (2008) are being getting their first-ever vinyl release for Record Store Day 2015 (Saturday, 4/18) as a a three-LP set, The Virginia Monologues. To celebrate, The Dresden Dolls (who haven't played NYC since 2010) will perform a free show at Rough Trade as part of the store's RSD15 special events on Saturday. Amanda Palmer (who is very pregnant right now) and Brian Viglione will also be signing copies of the vinyl at the store. Their set is at 6 PM and free. Keep in mind that the L Train will not be running from 8th Ave - Bedford at all this weekend.

As for the rest of Rough Trade's Record Store day events, Sondre Lerche will also be there, performing on the mezzanine while the 78 Project cuts his set directly to a 78RPM record, Alan Lomax-style. There will also be sets from Lee Bains III, Howlin Rain, Saun & Starr, Lord Raja, as well as signings by The Buzzcocks (who play NYC tonight and NJ on Friday) and Kim Gordon. One slot in their schedule is still listed as "Special Guests" -- any guesses? Schedule is listed below and you can see what RSD15 exclusives the store is getting here. Rough Trade will be open from 8 AM - 11 PM on Saturday.

Philly garage punks Residuels have covered The Stooges and had the cover praised by Iggy Pop himself. They just opened the Philly stop of The Sonics' tour, and this Thursday (4/16) they'll be in NYC to open for the Buzzcocks show at Irving Plaza. So you probably have an idea of what you're getting from them -- classic-sounding stuff inspired by '60s garage rock and early punk -- and they do it well. Listen to their recent cassingle, "Valley Of Fire" (with Stoogers cover "I Got A Right" on the flip), below.

The Buzzcocks/Residuels show also has Otherworldy Things on the bill. Tickets are still available and we're also giving away a pair. Details below.

Punk greats the Buzzcocks will be visiting the US for a few East Coast dates this spring, including two in the NYC area: Irving Plaza on April 16 and Asbury Park, NJ's Stone Pony on April 17. Tickets for those shows go on sale Friday (3/6) at 10 AM but you can get them early with a BrooklynVegan presale beginning Tuesday (3/3) at 10 AM. Check back Tuesday morning for the password. There will also be a Live Nation presale on Wednesday (3/4) at 10 AM. All tour dates are listed below.

Buzzcocks, which still features singers/songwriters Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, released their ninth album, The Way (and toured), in 2014 and you can stream that below.

Quebec's Amnesia Rockfest goes down from June 18-21 in Montebello, QC and the lineup was just announced, including the back-in-action Refused, Pixies, Slayer, Melvins, Buzzcocks, Descendents, ALL, Tenacious D, Deftones, Bad Religion, Snoop Dogg, Propagandhi, Gogol Bordello, Bouncing Souls, Ministry, Down, The Exploited, GBH, Carcass, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Bolt Thrower, Sick of It All, Cro-Mags, Snapcase, Rancid (performing ...And Out Come the Wolves), The Offspring (who toured Smash last year but will now play the less good Americana) and more. Full lineup here. Tickets are on sale now.

The lineup is also includes the first announced reunion date for Thrice, who went on hiatus about three years ago. It's arguable that they didn't go out on the best note, but those early records are pretty great -- 2002's The Illusion of Safety and 2003's The Artist in the Ambulance especially -- so it should be cool to hear that stuff live again. Revisit some old highlights below. They also recently reissued stuff on vinyl.

Assuming the reunion includes bassist Eddie Breckenridge, he'll be pulling triple duty this year. He's a current member of the reunited Knapsack (who have dates coming up), and he plays with former (?) blink-182 member Tom Delonge in his arena rock band Angels & Airwaves. blink-182 (without Tom) have a similarly-themed festival that they curated coming up, too.

And ahead of Amnesia Rockfest, Thrice singer Dustin Kensrue (who has a new solo album coming) will go on a tour with Manchester Orchestra singer Andy Hull, which hits NYC on April 30 at The Bell House. Tickets go on sale Friday (2/13) at noon.

Riot Fest Chicago kicked off this past Friday (9/12) in Humboldt Park and continued the following day with Samhain (playing Initium) (video below), The National, The Flaming Lips, Descendents (playing Milo Goes to College), The Get Up Kids (playing Something to Write Home About), The Afghan Whigs, Television, Buzzcocks, Samiam, Wavves and many more. Pictures of the second day, and Milos and Zach's reviews, are in this post.

I skipped the rainy first day of Riot Fest and waded through the muddy aftermath to The Dandy Warhols perform at the Riot Stage. Getting there early I used the extra time attempting (and failing) to clean my sneakers, which had accumulated enough mud under the soles to make them look like brown platform shoes. The Dandys hit the stage on time and managed to squeeze in a good variety of their hits in the short 45 minute set time, including "I Love You," "We Used To Be Friends," "Bohemian Like You," and "Boys Better." The sound was a bit off the first couple of songs, possibly having something to do with Courtney Taylor's dual mic setup. But overall the set was excellent and managed to distract me from the sinking feeling under my shoes. The band seemed to enjoy themselves, especially keyboardist Zia McCabe who danced like a hippy while playing her Korg synth and tambourine. I spotted her again later in the day rocking out among the audience during the Die Antwoord set. Overall my only complaint was that Dandy's set felt criminally short and left me craving more. --MM

I started off day 2 of the festival by catching NYC punk legends Television's late afternoon set on the Rise Stage. They delivered almost all of their classic Marquee Moon (3/4 of their current lineup recorded the LP), complete with its signature paranoid feel and fantastic interlocking guitar work. Though they don't play all that many shows these days, the band were way on at the fest and came off sounding just as powerful as their recordings. After watching a large part of their set, I headed over to the Riot Stage for something very different: Die Antwoord.

The South African rave rappers began their performance by piping a highly-effected "DJ Hi-Tek Rulez" over the sound system, which includes the hook "DJ Hi-Tek will fuck you in the ass." Their subsequent set followed suit, with more ridiculous and highly danceable songs. During what I stuck around for, rapper Ninja mooned the crowd multiple times and did some serious stage hopping with Yo-Landi Vi$$er. We then broke for food prior to The Afghan Whigs' set on the nearby Roots Stage. --ZP

The crowd waiting for the Whigs couldn't have been more different than the one we had left. Older and somber, they occasionally took furrowed glances at Die Antwoord's stage in manner similar to a disgruntled parent. The Afghan Whigs finally hit the stage at 4:15 sharp and the crowd erupted with a mix of excitement and relief. Greg Dulli and the band were dressed in the debonair style that they're known for and reached deep into their back log, pulling out favorites like "Debonair" from their classic Gentleman album (which they're reissuing this year). The band flat out rocked and Duli even slammed his own drum near the end of the set. It was a real pleasure seeing these guys fully back in action. --MM

After Afghan Whigs, we headed to the smaller Revolt Stage to catch Buffalo, NY punk pop trio Lemuria. The three-piece delivered a mix of tunes from last year's The Distance Is So Big and its predecessors with a ton of energy. The humble crowd they gathered seemed to eat it up too. Highlights included the driving "Clay Baby" and grungy "Brilliant Dancer." After a handful of songs from Lemuria, we headed over to the already-packed Roots Stage where Wu-Tang Clan would soon be playing.

The Wu entered with their classic party-starter "Bring Da Ruckus," followed by the majority of 36 Chambers. Standout moments from their overall fun set included the RZA-led "The Mystery Of Chessboxin'," "Protect Ya Neck," and the classic "C.R.E.A.M." RZA also gave Syl Johnson a big shout out while talking about influential Chicago artists. --ZP

The Flaming Lips were our next mark, who were to take the Roots Stage after Wu-Tang. Wayne Coyne and co. began their sprawling trip-out with "The Abandoned Hospital Ship" followed by "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1." The band had an elaborate, hanging fiber-optic setup and a stage-spanning screen with visuals behind them. When combined (most often with a tunnel-looking rainbow video), the backgrounds and fiber-optics worked extremely well together. There were also various blowup mascots on stage throughout their set, like a sun, mushrooms, a creepy butterfly, etc. with people inside animating them. While attempting a confetti cannon shot during "The Abandoned Hospital Ship," The Flaming Lips blew the power on the Roots Stage. The confetti still shot off, and it was a bit sad for a few minutes while they assessed the situation. They did manage to come back strong, yet Coyne still seemed understandably deflated. This didn't stop him from putting on a great show though, and he channeled some of that weirdness into an excellent performance of The Terror standout "Look...The Sun Is Rising." The uplifting "Do You Realize??" came next, followed by their incredibly warped cover of The Beatles classic "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." The verses remain fairly intact, but the chorus is shopped with doom-ridden explosions throughout. It's a really interesting take on the song, and I'm curious to see what the recording will be like. --ZP

The National were a bit delayed due to a border crossing mishap in Ottawa, so The Flaming Lips were given a bit more time. When they did arrive, Matt Berninger first joked that he was busy checking his email before actually explaining what happened. The National proceeded to give us a mostly late-period headlining set that featured songs from Trouble Will Find Me and High Violet. That's not to say their older material was completely ignored. " They capped off their characteristically great show with "Fake Empire" into "Mr. November," and finished with "Terrible Love." --ZP

Day 1 pics and review HERE. Day 3 HERE. More pictures of most of the above-reviewed artists and a handful of others from day 2, below...

As they hit the stage opening with "Boredom" and then, "Fast Cars," Buzzcocks seemed to have not lost their touch. Just pure adrenaline and excitement charging them on stage and the audience loved every second of it. The band, who are on tour in support of their new album, The Way, which has not been released in the U.S. yet, even guitarist Steve Diggle joked about it saying, "Here is a new song that you can't buy!" before going into "Keep On Believing." With a handful of new tracks played through the night, the latest songs sound as if they were kept in an archive from the bands heyday and seem to have not lost their touch, the same was true to their performance. - [HuffPo]

UK punk legends Buzzcocks hit NYC on Saturday (9/6) at Webster Hall as part of their current North American tour around Riot Fests. The band has a new import-only album out this year (The Way), but this show was mainly a cavalcade of hits, from opener "Boredom" through the encore of "Harmony in My Head," "Ever Fallen in Love" and "Orgasm Addict." A bearded Pete Shelley and the always smiling Steve Diggle (looking remarkably like he did in 1979) seem like they're still having a blast. Pics, setlist and full video of their Webster Hall set are in this post.

The night was well matched with NJ's Titus Andronicus, making for two generations of punk rock. The band blasted through a brief, 30-minute set with almost no time for banter. Pics and video from their set, and more from Buzzcocks, below...

Riot Fest Chicago 2014 is set to take place from September 12-14 throughout Humboldt Park. The 10th anniversary of the festival features Jane's Addiction, Slayer, The Offspring, Pussy Riot (Nadya Tolokonnikova & Masha Alekhina), Mastodon, The Murder City Devils, Failure, Title Fight, The National, The Flaming Lips, Wu-Tang Clan, Descendents, The Cure, Weezer, Social Distortion, Primus, Patti Smith, and many more across seven-stages. The fest has now shared daily lineups, which you can scope out at the bottom of this post. Three-day and two-day passes are still available, and single-day tickets are on sale now.

Late '70s British punk pioneers Buzzcocks (who have been reformed since 1989 -- their current lineup features core members/songwriters Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle) are returning to North America for Riot Fest Chicago, Denver and Toronto, and while they're here they'll go on a short US tour too. That tour hits NYC on September 6 at Webster Hall, which is awesomely being opened by Titus Andronicus, who have headlined that venue on their own. Tickets for this great double bill go on sale today (6/20) at 10 AM. All Buzzcocks dates are listed below.

Riot Fest is happening in Toronto, Chicago and Denveragain this year, and the lineup for Toronto was just announced. It happens on September 6 & 7 and features The National, Flaming Lips, Social Distortion, Death Cab for Cutie, Death From Above 1979, Brand New, Paul Weller, Stars, Metric, The Head and the Heart, Tokyo Police Club, The New Pornographers, Taking Back Sunday, Afghan Whigs, Alkaline Trio, Glassjaw, Bob Mould, Thurston Moore, Buzzcocks, Clutch, Manchester Orchestra, Lucero, Title Fight and many more. Full initial lineup below. Tickets go on sale Saturday (5/10) at 10 AM.

As mentioned on BV Chicago, the Chicago fest happens from September 12-14 this year, and Denver from September 19-21. Stay tuned for those lineups.

"The earlier part of the afternoon felt a little sleepy. People waking up late after Friday, taking their time getting to the festival, and the earliest bands on the bill usually have a gentler style of music anyway. That all changed, for us at least, with the arrival of the Buzzcocks, those spiky, rapid-fire elder statesmen of melodic British punk, on stage in the Gobi tent.

Founders Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle look older now -- it's been 35 years or so since they launched the band --but their voices are strong, their rapid-fire guitar riffing still delivers an electric current to the brain. And, bonus for fans on Saturday, the short length of many of their songs meant you got a whole lot of Buzzcocks packed into a 55-minute set." [Orange County Register]

Before Radiohead closed out Saturday with a near-2 hour headlining set, Coachella-goers were treated to live music by Jeff Mangum, the Buzzcocks, Squeeze, fIREHOSE, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bon Iver (videos & setlist HERE), Andrew Bird, The Shins, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, A$AP Rocky (who played at the same time as Radiohead), Feist, Noel Gallagher, Destroyer, Grace Potter, The Head and the Heart, and many more.

"New York City police evacuated several floors of a building and several streets were blocked off near Manhattan's Union Square after a Thursday night report of a suspicious vehicle with two gas cans found in the back seat.

The bomb squad suited up and began an investigation of the 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, which was found in front of the Con Edison utility building around 10 p.m.

Chief police spokesman Paul Browne said several floors of a high-rise residential building were evacuated and some streets in the area were blocked off as a precaution. It wasn't immediately clear if the vehicle was a threat.

Union Square, located on Manhattan's East Side, is a major pedestrian and tourist thoroughfare. New York University, Greenwich Village, and the landmark Flatiron building are nearby." [AP]

Also nearby: Irving Plaza where last night's Buzzcocks show was happening at the same time as the bomb scare. Mikey reports that "they stopped mid-song (E.S.P.) to say the police want the owner of a 91 blue cutlass to move his car. Then finished the song..." and that "The announcement was made around 1130 and they continued playing untli midnight." Rob confirms that "Brilliant Buzzcocks show goes on despite bomb scare right outside. Surreal coming out into the street jammed w/bomb squad, cops, fireman." And finally, Michaela reports:

Amazing show tonight, truly did both albums and long, long encore. (Irving Plaza's crappy sound system was just an insult!) And yes to Anon 2:25, no Howard Devoto, but Diggle did a rabid Harmony in My Head. Glorious, and they too seemed to have had a great time!

The albums they played were Another Music in a Different Kitchen and Love Bites, and if you missed it, they aren't going very far. The next two stops on their 22-date North American tour are Friday night in Philly and Saturday in Farmingdale, NY! Videos from Wednesday's Baltimore show below...

Manchester punk legends Buzzcocks are mounting a 22-date North American tour where they'll play their first two albums, Another Music in a Different Kitchen and Love Bites (both released in 1978) in their entirety "plus other hits." The NYC stop is May 13 at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. Tickets are on Live Nation presale now (password = GUITAR) and go on general sale Saturday (4/3) at 10am.

One of the truly greats, The Buzzcocks bridged punk and powerpop and their tuneful tales of teen angst were the blueprint for pretty much all all popular pop-punk from Green Day on. If you don't own (or haven't heard) Singles Going Steady, you should stop reading this blog right now and rectify that. Not just one the most essential documents of the punk era, it's one of the greatest records ever.

That compilation is such a classic, people sometimes forget the Buzzcocks actual studio albums from the same era. Mute recently reissued the band's first three LPs, Another Music in a Different Kitchen, Love Bites, and A Different Kind of Tension, all with bonus discs containing b-sides, demos, Peel Sessions, live versions, etc. All three are pretty excellent but -- I gotta admit -- I'm most partial to the final one, A Different Kind of Tension, which adds a paranoid edge to the proceedings. Its reissue also comes with the non-LP singles from around the same time that were compiled on the Parts 1, 2, 3 EP. But all three are worth picking up.

What's amazing, beyond the quality, is almost all of this was written and recorded in a two-year period. As almost all of their songs dealt with matters of the heart (and other body organs), their music hasn't really dated at all. Their records since main men Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle reformed the band in the early '90s, while less essential, are pretty good too.

Live, The Buzzcocks have still got it. (or at least they did the last time I saw them, mid-'00s.) Diggle especially seems to truly still love playing these songs. I wish they could coerce original drummer John Maher (arguably UK punk's greatest drummer, along with Rat Scabies) to go back out with them, but their rhythm section is tight. And, of course, those songs, many of which have probably never been played in America before.

Click through for all Buzzc0cks tour dates, full trackslists for those reissues, plus some vintage (and recent) video.

As part of the 2008 Howl Festival in NYC's East Village, a panel discussion on the topic 'Unrest in the 70s - US vs UK' at Bowery Poetry Club, directly opposite the old CBGB premises, brought together a number of punk veterans from both sides of the pond.

The Good the Bad and the Queen (or the band with no name): The first few hours of Saturday’s Primavera were uneventful for me. I got there later than I wanted to, and only saw the last song of Ted Leo’s set. I was thoroughly unimpressed by both the Long Blondes and Architecture in Helsinki, and chilled in the back for Patti Smith.

The Good, the Bad and the Queen was the first concert in which I had high expectations. I haven’t heard the album, but I mean come on - with all the talent in that band I’d be an idiot not to check it out. Unfortunately it was a disappointment. A mere two days after the concert, the only thing that stands out in my mind is how badass bassist Paul Simonon looked hopping around in his suit, smoking cigarettes with no hands, and chugging whiskey like it was Kool-Aid. I guess an apt analogy would be seeing the Dream Team in a free throw shooting contest. Damon Albarn’s songs did absolutely nothing for me, and drummer Tony Allen and guitarist Simon Tong were completely under utilized. Everyone else in the crowd seemed to be pretty into it though.

Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation! I must confess that my overall Sonic Youth expertise is not that great. I had only heard Daydream Nation a couple of times in passing, but I mean everyone loves that album, and it was the first time ever that they performed it from beginning to end. They went on at 11:35 which meant I'd have to miss most of Hot Chip who were going on at 12. I made the right decision - the album rocked live! They mentioned several times that they hadn’t played many of the songs in seventeen years, but I thought they sounded incredible. The band was just so incredibly tight. Thurston Moore and the drummer absolutely blew me away. I forgot how experimental, yet melodic that album is. They're performing the album again at McCarren Park Pool in July, and I would encourage all of you to cough up the 34 dollars or whatever it is and go. You won’t be disappointed. They played a second, shorter set of newer material, but I had to skip that to check out the Buzzcocks.

The Buzzcocks: My biggest conflict of the festival was between the Buzzcocks and Grizzly Bear. As much as I love Yellow House, the Buzzcocks are legends. I simply could not miss the opportunity to see them live, even if there are only two original members in the band. This was possibly the best show of the festival. They look like old men now, but who cares? They still know how to rock with the best of them. I was up front eagerly awaiting the first song, and as soon as the first notes were played, a gigantic moshpit erupted all around me. When they came out for the encore, Steve Diggle was clearly wasted. He told all of us to, “Stop watching MTV, it’s killing your minds!” about ten times. It was the last show of their tour, they were thrilled to be there, and the audience was ecstatic to be watching them. At the end of the show, nearly everyone that had been shoving me around like a pin ball, put their arm around me or gave me a high five. What a great time. Highlights included “Orgasm Addict,” “What Do I Get,” “Autonomy,” and “Ever Fallen in Love.”

Editor's Note: While Evan was moshing to the Buzzcocks, Zach from Beirut was busy jumping up and down on stage with Grizzly Bear...

Wilco: My Primavera experience ended satisfyingly with Wilco, though I was a bit disappointed. The new songs sounded great live, and the band certainly has the best musicians that they’ve ever had. Guitarist Nels Cline plays the pedal steel like a Nashville veteran. Glen Kotche is one of the best drummers around. The band on any given song is able to take a number of noisy, avant-garde detours and still get back to the main melody of the song that they are playing in a heartbeat. I guess my biggest complaints are with the song selections. No “Heavy Metal Drummer,” only a couple of songs off of Summer Teeth, and nothing off of Being There. The set was pretty much an exact replica of the one I saw them play at Lollapalooza last summer. Jeff Tweedy is a masterful songwriter, and Wilco are still one of the best bands around, but you get the feeling that they are slipping into complacency a little bit. And that would be a terrible thing. Still though, there’s nothing wrong with watching adventurous musicians do what they do best. Highlights include “A Shot in the Arm,” “Jesus Etc.” “I’m the Man Who Loves You,” “Via Chicago,” and “Shake it Off.”

Overall, Primavera Sound was an amazing festival. I saw just twelve bands out of the twenty or thirty that I wanted to see. That’s a testament to what a great job the organizers did. They know what the hipsters want to hear. Of course there were flaws (the most glaring one being the sound problems on the ATP stage), but anytime you have this many great bands in one place it’s going to be mostly spectacular. If they keep putting lineups together like this one, I’ll be heading back very soon.

Editor's Note again: Though Evan did catch Daydream Nation, he missed Slint play Spiderland on the first day of the festival. Videos below....

"But all thoughts of the Melvins' agedness go right out the window when Crover and Coady fall into a martial lockstep that defies the lobes. As the sun beats down, they beat down, appearing as stereophonic hallucinations, two parts of one machine." [Idolator]